Wednesday, May 4, 2011

It seems that units of the wheeled type seem to be a bad rap unless on perfect, smooth pavement.
It should be that there are two different types of wheeled vehicles.
One type is your run of the mill straight from the domestic factory (made to break down in 6 years) wheeled vehicle or truck.
The other type is your military grade, tough as nails, off-road wheeled fighting armored machine! I am not talking about half-tracks or tracked motorcycles either.
Examples:
From World War II:German SdKfz 234/4 50mm Cannon (not AP material here), 6-30mm armor, 53 mph on road, so let's say 1/2 that speed is off road. So, at 27 mph we are looking at 2 hexes a turn. This off road monster was built for off road front line combat.German Sd.Kfz 2322 cm kWk 30, 8mm-15mm armor, 53 mph on road, so let's say 1/2 that speed is off road. So, at 27 mph we are looking at 2 hexes a turn (again). This particular vehicle was a forward observer and a scout (and a very good one from battle reports).American M8 Greyhoud 37mm gun (ap standard I would think), 3mm-5mm armor (not designed for front line combat), 56 mph on road, so let's say 1/2 that speed is off road. So, at 37 mph we are looking at about 2 hexes a turn. Should we round up or down when calculating off road speed?

So, now let's take a look at some modern wheeled military vehicles constructed for both combat and limited (or full) infantry carrying potential:

America's M1126 Stryker ICV M2 50-cal (AP gun?) with potential for a grenade launcher, 7mm-15mm bullet resistant (light), 62 mph on road, so let's say technology has caught up with us and 3/4 of that speed is off road speed. So, at 54 mph we are looking at about 4 hexes a turn.Canada's Bison Armored personnel carrier 7.62mm gun (light), 8mm-13mm bullet resistant (light), 62 mph on road, so let's say technology has caught up with us and 3/4 of that speed is off road speed. So, at 54 mph we are looking at about 4 hexes a turn. This vehicle is amphibious, so it's water movement may be much lower (like 14-15mph, or 1 hex).German Spähpanzer Luchs20 mm Rheinmetall MK 20 Rh 202 automatic cannon (AP capable?), 8mm-13mm bullet resistant (light), 55 mph on road, so let's say technology has caught up with us and 3/4 of that speed is off road speed. So, at 41 mph we are looking at about still 4 hexes a turn. This vehicle is amphibious, so it's water movement may be much lower (like 10-14 mph, or 1 hex).

The carriers in OGRE/GEV are quick hover assisted, BPC covered and electronically ECM and ECCM protected.
I believe that there are is a place for wheeled off-road vehicles in the battle space if the tires were made of a BPC compound and mildly inflated with an inert gas. They would make excellent ECM, ECCM, spotting, scout and infantry carriers for slow moving tracked convoys where maneuver is a factor, not speed.
I suggest that off-road (military grade) wheeled movement is able to move as armored tracked vehicles do. Since wheeled vehicles were BUILT for the road, they should enjoy +2 movement on a road (M4 = M6 and M2=M4) and not the paltry +1 'enjoyed' by tracked vehicles. Additionally, vehicles that are outfitted with off-road heavy duty military chassis are not at all like their wimpy street cousins. They can handle rubble without the chance of getting stuck. Now don't get me started on towing or ramming...
... Once I have done some more research I will make some cool counters for my archaic armor collection from vehicles from about the turn of the century.Example:"Stryker units seem to be especially effective in urban areas, where vehicles can establish initial security positions near a building and dismount squads on a doorstep."America's M1126 Stryker ICV 1/1 AP, D1, M4, 1 vp, room for one 1/1 squad but then speed drops to M3 is carrying powered infantry. For 1 more vp you can add a two-shot BGM-71 TOW missile system to it with a range of 2 and attack of 1.

Counters are doubles died for a few reasons. The most popular one, if you ever looked for aunit among so many, is that fact that both the front and back of the counter was the same. Try sifting through 100s of one-sided counters and you will understand what I mean! The other reason (as far as I know) is to show an alternate state of that unit (disabled) or even place a graphic representing another unit beneath it. Maybe even a counter has nothing on the back in order to conceal it's identity from the opponent. I am sure there are many other reason I am not aware of.
I have found a new way to make counters that are 'doubled sided' without the problem of opposing alignment and cutting into the backside of the counter spread when cutting.
Sandwiching a printed clear 3 mil plastic sheet between two laminating sheaths produced a counter 33 mil thick (twice the thickness of OGRE/GEV counters). The plus side is that you can flip them over to represent the opposite writing as a disabled unit. On the downside, you have to print 50% more infantry counters.

Now you can see wearing gloves is important not to get oil on any of the surfaces.

Lifting up the sheet and you will see the clear printed sheet beneath.

This is the product of running it though my laminator.

Now after cutting these counters out with very very sharp scissors I have now counters I can drop in water since they are made of plastic!

They are resistant to damage and if you lose any, just make a few more.

Here are the containers I place my army in. $6 is not bad for 4 counter holders that fit into my case!

A closer look at my counter container. Yeah - every unit is represented!

Here is a close up of my counter for the archaic armor series I ran. Notice that it is the Paneuropean Leopard II Main Battle Tank that would have been accessible to outlying areas without high tech levels. The upper left corner still has the unit type, the size and vp value.

You will notice this is the M1-A1 Main battle tank from the Combine.

Here are the collection of the Archaic armor collection.

Thought I would add this DIS counter I made about a year ago. It actually comes in handy.

About Me

I live in Northwest Oregon, have many talents and am conservative in my opinions and views. I love small animals and children. I also love beautiful vistas of beach and landscape. I enjoy daydreaming of the next fantasy or science fiction story I will write if I am not finding my nose to the grindstone.